It was a cold night at the Bridge yesterday but I surely didn't see us playing as bad as some here suggest. We controlled the match except in the last 15 minutes or so, had 21 shots and 10 on target in comparison to their 2 shots 0 on target, and could have gone to half time 2 or 3 nil up. So yes, the 2 man midfield worked for the majority of the game and we dominated the middle of the park bar the last 15 minutes. My only complain would be that it all felt like a stroll in the park, the atmosphere was flat, there were plenty of empty seats, the team looked like it was in training, and Swansea is the worse team I've seen this season so far. But I am happy with the three points and with the performance in general.

I hope Conte does not get many matches, that c**t of the referee had no clue last night.

39 minutes ago, Slojo said:

 

5) I wasn't happy with the lineup, to be honest, I'm sure many thought the same when they saw no Moses and Fabregas starting in midfield, but it looks like it was never an issue and maybe for the best? Fabregas was in total control, looks like we can start with Fabregas on the side next to Kante in certain games, but I would rather not make a habit of it. 

You can started with Fabregas, but only when Kante is at his sides and mostly when we play against a low opposition... 

I believe right now the ultimate middle consists Kante, Drinkwater and Fabregas. Would love to see them all together with no Baka involved. N'golo takes care of the defensive stuff, Drinkwater is the balanced guy, able to give a fight and able to deliver good pass, and Cesc - taking the responsibility of our attack. 

You really can't say that Fabregas-Kante did not work yesterday. Except the last 15 minutes or so we dominated them and they created nothing. I think that we can play with a more attacking 3-4-3 at home against a poor opposition as Swansea. Obviously against top teams we should play with 5 men in the middle (I'd play Fabregas Kante and Drinkwater), but yesterday we should have been 2 or 3 up by half time.

1 hour ago, Slojo said:

Guys focus on Chelsea, not City. 

1) Great reactions from Rudiger, that was not an easy goal by any means, thank you for being clinical on the night! 

2) Morata really needs to stop complaining and get to grips with this league, one nudge from Mawson and he completely snuffed his shot and started complaining. He needs to learn that's the way the PL is, Drogba would have taken a big touch with his right and carried it onto his left side so the defender couldn't distract him from the shot, it would have created a harder angle and put it on his left, but it gives you a better chance. Morata needs to learn the same techniques or he's going to really struggle in a lot of Premier League games here, like this one. (if you watch the very moment you'll see Morata acts like it's a simple 1 on 1 no defender around him) 

3) Alonso uses his width so much better than Zappacosta, Zappacosta didn't make enough good runs to really stretch Swansea thin, Alonso made a few good darting runs that almost completely obliterated their organisation. 

4) We are too harsh on Willian & Pedro, they ran the game, should have scored more but Swansea did nothing all game, the show was run by them and Fabregas with Morata linking up well, the bottom sides are very easy for us when we play like this it's no contest, we just had to get the goal in and we almost failed. Not a huge deal even City & United are struggling in those departments at the moment. 

5) I wasn't happy with the lineup, to be honest, I'm sure many thought the same when they saw no Moses and Fabregas starting in midfield, but it looks like it was never an issue and maybe for the best? Fabregas was in total control, looks like we can start with Fabregas on the side next to Kante in certain games, but I would rather not make a habit of it. 

Point 2: Drogba went down many many times early in his Chelsea career and copped more stick for diving than anyone I can remember.  I'd say Morata deserves some slack in the interim, but does need to get on with it a bit more.

Point 3. Disagree whole heartily with this. Zappacosta's runs were incredible and the majority of his balls in were beauties, largely because he had more width and more time.  Alonso for me was rather quite.

Point 4:  Willian was the best player on the park by a country mile.

Point 5: I can't remember a single chance coming from Fab and he got caught with the ball on 2 or 3 occasions.   All of his long balls just sailed onto the head of their defenders.

actually think zappacosta had a decent game yesterday, better than waht we saw from moses. moses has just returned though, so needs a bit of a time to get back into the rhythm. 

Well, we got the 3 points but the display left a lot to be desired. We lacked a cutting edge and flair. Plenty of possession but little to show for it. Morata looks flimsy against tough central defenders and needs to be more agressive. We aren't scoring enough goals this season and the two man midfield with Fabregas just doesn't work. Kante is rushed off his feet and we need Drinkwater as support. We have a run of games where we can take a lot of points so let's make the most of it. Man City;s luck will eventually run out and boy have they had some luck. The ref last night was yet again shocking. I despair of the quality of Premiership referees. Newcastle next and we need another 3 points. Benitez will park the bus I reckon. The CL and second i the Premiership should be our priorities. COME ON YOU BLUES !!!

57 minutes ago, Van Butsen said:

Point 2: Drogba went down many many times early in his Chelsea career and copped more stick for diving than anyone I can remember.  I'd say Morata deserves some slack in the interim, but does need to get on with it a bit more.

Point 3. Disagree whole heartily with this. Zappacosta's runs were incredible and the majority of his balls in were beauties, largely because he had more width and more time.  Alonso for me was rather quite.

Point 4:  Willian was the best player on the park by a country mile.

Point 5: I can't remember a single chance coming from Fab and he got caught with the ball on 2 or 3 occasions.   All of his long balls just sailed onto the head of their defenders.

I'm not saying Drogba didn't go down, but he went down at the right times. Drogba played it smart and started diving when he couldn't get his way. That's why opposition fans hated him. When he had a good chance he would turn into the terminator, you couldn't get the ball off him, when he couldn't he would turn into a brick sh*t house and fall over from anything. What good runs did Zappacosta make the whole game exactly? I didn't see anything, Alonso was lethal on the left-hand side and always closed in. Even look at the highlights to get a contrast of it, Alonso a few times got in from overlapping runs in the box (which Fabregas picked out btw), Zappacosta was quiet, he received the ball more times but not in dangerous areas, that's my point. 

It's hard to break down their defense when they've got everyone sat at the back, I thought Fabregas did very well at trying to pick them apart. When you're in that position the main thing you can do is get the ball to Willian & Pedro and try and find openings, we did get through a few times but we weren't clinical enough on the night. Luckily Rudiger got the 3 points for us in the end. 

59 minutes ago, enigma said:

actually think zappacosta had a decent game yesterday, better than waht we saw from moses. moses has just returned though, so needs a bit of a time to get back into the rhythm. 

I think that's all it is, I didn't say Zappacosta had a bad game I just don't think he made good enough runs, which in fairness he was up against Olsen, whereas Alonso was up against Naughton, quite a difference there defensively.

But I expect Moses to be our number 1 on the right-hand side. 

Glad couple of people pointed it out. Thought Willian was excellent yesterday.

21 minutes ago, Slojo said:

I'm not saying Drogba didn't go down, but he went down at the right times. Drogba played it smart and started diving when he couldn't get his way. That's why opposition fans hated him. When he had a good chance he would turn into the terminator, you couldn't get the ball off him, when he couldn't he would turn into a brick sh*t house and fall over from anything. What good runs did Zappacosta make the whole game exactly? I didn't see anything, Alonso was lethal on the left-hand side and always closed in. Even look at the highlights to get a contrast of it, Alonso a few times got in from overlapping runs in the box (which Fabregas picked out btw), Zappacosta was quiet, he received the ball more times but not in dangerous areas, that's my point. 

It's hard to break down their defense when they've got everyone sat at the back, I thought Fabregas did very well at trying to pick them apart. When you're in that position the main thing you can do is get the ball to Willian & Pedro and try and find openings, we did get through a few times but we weren't clinical enough on the night. Luckily Rudiger got the 3 points for us in the end. 

Wow I actually disagree with all of this. I don't think there's such thing as smart diving. Zappacosta made plenty, just watch the whole game again, there were was one where he even ran the whole field, past 3 players, very similar to his Qarabag goal. Fab was well below his best last night, kept going for the same pass over and over again with no variation, but maybe the runs weren't there.

3 minutes ago, Van Butsen said:

Wow I actually disagree with all of this. I don't think there's such thing as smart diving. Zappacosta made plenty, just watch the whole game again, there were was one where he even ran the whole field, past 3 players, very similar to his Qarabag goal. Fab was well below his best last night, kept going for the same pass over and over again with no variation, but maybe the runs weren't there.

Of course there is, why else do players dive? It's to get fouls, it's part of the game like it or not. I'm glad they're trying to get rid of it with big punishments because the F.A. really needs to step up. Yeah I remember the moment he went past players but that wasn't my point, maybe I didn't make it as clear, I'm talking about movement that disrupts Swansea's organisation, when they've got 4 stuck on 3, the only thing you can really do is stretch them thin with your wide players. Or like how Bakayoko took off a defender from Morata which gave him a free header against United for his goal.

I didn't see enough movement from Zappacosta when he wasn't on the ball, that's the point I'm making. 

Only caught the last 20 mins and later the highlights but just seems like on of those games you should win 4-5 nil but sneak by. No harm done and 3 points is 3 points!

All of the ball but disjointed and passes going awry.   Nervous viewing with only one goal in it. 

As well as Conte's sending off, Renato Sanches making headlines for studiously passing the ball directly into the 'Carabao' logo in the hoardings when under no real pressure.  In his defence (a) it's large and the same hue of red as Swansea kit and (b) is a rotating sign that went to red only when he had the ball, so from his peripheral vision obviously thought a team mate had just moved there!  Looks totally dumb though and got the hook though not just for that.  Feel for the geezer as has bags of talent concealed somewhere. 

9 hours ago, RMH said:

You really can't say that Fabregas-Kante did not work yesterday. Except the last 15 minutes or so we dominated them and they created nothing. I think that we can play with a more attacking 3-4-3 at home against a poor opposition as Swansea. Obviously against top teams we should play with 5 men in the middle (I'd play Fabregas Kante and Drinkwater), but yesterday we should have been 2 or 3 up by half time.

I thought it looked a bit disjointed personally and Fabregas was rushing his passes a lot. He's not good when he has to look what's going on behind him. When he's playing with 2 CM's, he doesn't have to worry so much about what is going on behind him. Fabregas couldn't pull off a single trademark pass yesterday because he was either rushed or closed down.

If we were playing a better side than Swansea, we would have struggled. But at the same time, if we were playing a different side, then i don't think we would have risked playing a 2 man midfield.

Fab definitely way below his best. Shows signs of fatigue himself. 

watched the game again in the evening all chilled with a beer & a spliff, Chelsea controlled the game 100%, scored a winner and rested a few players, admittedly it was far less anxious than the live experience earlier at lunchtime, but with a calmer mind I was able to figure out that most of the negativity on the thread-  it seems to be a result of the frustration at not breaking down a crap side like yesterday and battering them 3 or 4 nil, emotions churn and there's a lot of knee jerk posting, with a lot if I'm being honest, of slightly not accurate comments, oh and Willy had a damn good game as well.

Call it winning ugly, but a win it was lets do the Barcodes next, btw Ill take another 1-0 if thats what it takes to get 3 points

last on MOTD, I wish we had the funds to sit out a season and make the media and the PL beg to have us back, rotten c**ts. 

9 hours ago, Donny Blue said:

last on MOTD, I wish we had the funds to sit out a season and make the media and the PL beg to have us back, rotten c**ts. 

Why wouldn't it be the last game? To be fair it had the least goals and goals are what it's all about.

TBH, can't recall the last time I watched MOTD live. Always record it and fast forward to the bits I want to watch (so tend not having to sit through games involving the likes of West Brom & Stoke unless we are the opposition!)

 

19 hours ago, Donny Blue said:

last on MOTD, I wish we had the funds to sit out a season and make the media and the PL beg to have us back, rotten c**ts. 

It’s not the fact we’re on last that gets me, our games can sometimes be a bit tepid. It’s more the not mentioning any of the sh*tty decisions we get or brushing them a side with a single sentence that gets me. 

I said on the first goal kick Swansea were already time wasting then out manager gets sent to the stands for pointing it out but did that get highlighted? Did it f**k!

I thought we were more or less dominant throughout the match. A one goal advantage wasn't much to speak about but we had our chances and should have been much more ruthless.

The heartbreak was City's last gasp goal. That draw would've helped us quite a bit.

AT f**kING LAST